How To Find Out If Someone Is In Jail? You Could Find Out Online In Minutes

By Elise Torres on August 29, 2018

Scenario 1: Someone you know has completely disappeared from the face of the earth. They're not responding to your phone calls. You can't contact them on social media. And this person has a penchant for getting into trouble. Could they be in jail?

Scenario 2: You've met someone new, but they're a bit secretive about their past. You suspect that they may have spent time in jail. You don't want to ask them directly, but you've got to know.

If you want to learn more about a person’s past (or where they're currently at), the last thing you want is to waste your valuable time and money. If you’re reading this, you’re probably asking, “How can I find out if someone was — or is — in jail?"

Thanks to public records, you can find out if someone is in jail with just one quick search. Just type in their name in the box below, hit 'SEARCH,' and grab yourself a cup of coffee while Instant Checkmate sifts through millions of public records.

Instant Checkmate is a public records search website that pulls data from a range of government sources, including arrest records, criminal conviction records, and court dockets. When you become an Instant Checkmate member and pull a person’s background report, you may be able to see if someone has been arrested, as well as the location and circumstances of their arrest.

How To Find Out If Someone Is In Jail

It's easy to find out if someone is in jail. If you have the name of the person you are looking for, visit Instant Checkmate or use one of the search boxes on this page.

In just a few minutes, Instant Checkmate will assemble a dossier on your search subject. Scroll down to 'Criminal Records' to find out if they've committed any crimes that came with a hefty prison sentence.

An example criminal record from Instant Checkmate

If a friend or loved one has recently disappeared, there are two places you should contact first: local hospitals and local jails.

Most prisons offer an online database to view current inmates, and some facilities even release a 24-hour arrest list, like the Knox County Sheriff’s Office in Knoxville, Tennessee.

However, it’s important to remember that online databases have to be updated, and you might have to wait at least a day to view information about current inmates. If you’re looking for immediate answers, the fastest way to find out if someone has been arrested is to call your local jail directly. Most facilities offer general phone lines for the public to call and inquire about recent inmates.

How To Find Out If Someone Has Been Arrested In The Past

An arrest is on a criminal background check, but an arrest record doesn’t necessarily mean that someone committed a crime. In most cases, an arrest simply means that someone was held in jail for a period of time, regardless of whether formal charges were filed.

Maybe you once spent a night in the slammer after one too many adult beverages, and you want to see if it shows up on your background check. Or maybe you started seeing someone new, and even though you really like them, you want to make sure they’re not hiding anything in their past.

Use Instant Checkmate to see if someone has ever been arrested. Enter any name in the search box below and click “Search.”

You’ll be taken to Instant Checkmate’s search page, which will show you how we pull our information from public records while our database builds the background report.

Once you subscribe to Instant Checkmate, open the report and scroll down to “Criminal Records.”

If they’ve been in jail, you may be able to view details of their arrest. The record may include the date and place where they were arrested, the circumstances surrounding the arrest, and descriptions of their charges, among other details.

Depending on the nature of a person’s alleged crime, they may be held in a county, state, or federal prison. To search federal prisons, start with Instant Checkmate’s Inmate Search to view past and current inmates in the federal prison system, including release dates. The Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator is another resource, which records information from 1982 to the present.

If you’re searching for someone who was held in a state or county jail, you may be able to search for arrest records online through a government website. For example, California offers an inmate locator through the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

However, if you’re trying to learn more about someone’s past, it’s important to remember that they may not have been arrested in your home state; you might have to spend time searching through state records in order to find the right person.

That’s a huge benefit of Instant Checkmate: you’ll save time because we collect national records into one easy-to-read report.

Do you have questions about how Instant Checkmate can help you find out if someone has been arrested? Contact our US-based member care team anytime at 800-222-8985. We’re happy to answer questions about how to use our service!

DISCLAIMER: It is PROHIBITED by law to use our service or the information it provides to make decisions about consumer credit, employment, insurance, tenant screening, or for any other purpose subject to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 USC 1681 et seq. Instant Checkmate does not provide consumer reports and is not a consumer reporting agency. The information available on our website may not be 100% accurate, complete, or up to date, so do not use this information as a substitute for your own due diligence, especially if you have concerns about a person’s criminal history. Instant Checkmate does not make any representation or warranty about the accuracy of the information available through our website or about the character or integrity of the person about whom you inquire. For more information, please review Instant Checkmate Terms of Use.

The Author

Elise Torres is a writer and self-proclaimed professional napper. She enjoys reading weird pages on Wikipedia.

Crimewire is your destination for all things Crime. Our intrepid team of bloggers scours the web each and every day to create information-based media content with an entertaining twist for our readers. NEW! Find real criminal records and more on the Instant Checkmate People Directory.